Strain gauge



Patented July 4, 1944 s'rmm GAUGE Norman L. Haight, Hoboken, N. J., assigner to Sperry Products. Inc., Hoboken, N. J., a corporation of New Yorkv Application August 4, 1942, Serial No. 453,529

2 Claims. (Cl. 265-1) This invention relates to strain or pressure gauges for rolling mills and the lil-:e designed to measure the high pressures which originate in continuous rolling mills. 'I'hese pressures are on the order of several million pounds and, in order to measure them, advantage is taken of the fact that the strain or deformation in the rolling mili frame is a function of the pressures which exist between the pressure rolls.` As a means responsive to the deformation of the frame, various de= vices may be employed, such as, for example, a balanced transformer having an armature adapt ed to be moved by the deformations of the frame and in such relation to the balanced transformer as to upset said balance and generate a voltage signal which aiter being dulyamplied may be caused to operate an indicator.

Because deformation of the Arolling mill fra-me may be caused by other factors than the pressure existing between the work rolls, principally by the factor of temperature, errors would be inw troduced in the indication of pressures existing between the rolls ii compensation were not made for the pressures introduced by the extraneous factors. in other Words, a new base line must be continuously established corresponding to the pressures of the'extraneous factors so that only the increment over and above such pre-existing pressures will be indicated since this is the true measure of the pressure between the work rolls generated by material passing between the rolls. in order to compensate for the extraneous factors, suchas temperature, which tend to give a false zero base line from which pressure increments would otherwise be measured, there has been provided in strain gauges means for cominterval when no material is passing between the work rolls. Therefore any pressures which were introducedin the frame when no material was passing through the work rolls were due to the extraneous factors, and a signal which wasgenerated by the strain responsive member was caused to operate mechanism including a potentiometer for introducing a signal equal and opposite to that generated by the strain responsive member. Therefore when material passed between the work rolls and the compensating means was rendered ineffective and the indicating means was rendered effective, only the increment in pressure over and above the compensated factors was indicated. Similarly, when the indicating means -was eective, the pressure responsive member generated a signal which was a.

caused to set in motion follow-up mechanism including a potentiometer for generating a signal equal and opposite to the first signal. When the two were equal, the operation of the indicating the potentiometer resistance, and, further, a cer-y lpensating for these extraneous factors during the mechanism stopped and the degreeof operation was a measure oi the pressure.

The use oi a potentiometer, however, was found in practice to oer considerable dilculty and many disadvantages due to the fact that the potentiometer contact tended to corrode, dirt and dust tended to collect between the contact and the potentiometer coil, wearing oi the contact and coil on which it operated tended to. change tain -vibratcry action of themotor was set up be sauseof the erratic contact. Such erraticcon tact was due to the oxidation and carbonization of the resistance element and the contact ele- 'ment, to the dirt deposited on the potentiometer and to the varying contact potentials resulting from the resistance element and the contact element being i'ormed oi different materials.

It is therefore one'of the principal objects of thislinvention to provide means for generating signals, either in the compensating or indicating follow-up systems, which will not depend upon potentiometers with their contacts moving over coils, but onthe contrary will employ non-contacting means for generating the necessary counter-voltage. For this purpose, I may employ a variable voltage transformer of the ileld and armature type, as for instance, the non-contacting Selsynmotor type. l

In the strain gauge for rolling mills as described above, it was found that a .plurality of cyclical variations were introduced by certain Awill be impressed. Heretofore the pressure re- ',sponsive element picked up all of these variations,

with1 the result that the indicating needles representing the pressures at'the front and rear frames of each rolling mill stand, set up attimes a rapid oscillation which made it diiilcult for an opera tor to read the scale. As a consequence, there were times when the operator completely disregarded the indications until such vibrations function of the pressure, and this signal was ceased. These rapid variations in pressure re..

sulting from a cyclical factor such as eccentricity, arose also from various other factors present in the mill, such as skewing of the rolls, etc.

It is therefore another object of this invention to provide meanswhich will iron out the short period cyclical variations and transmit an average of the pressures persisting through predetermined intervals of time. time constant may be introduced which will give the average pressure persisting for a period corresponding to one or more complete revolutions of the pressure rolls. In this manner, only the longer period variations due to a factor which is not cyclical but which is unidirectional for at least a predetermined interval of time, will -be indicated.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description thereof. v

The accompanying drawing is an assembly wir- I ing diagram showing one embodiment of my invention. I

Thus, for instance, a

assauts pressure existing in the mill stand frame will be passed by the signal averaging network In. It

.. clical variations is caused to operate an indi- 'I'he pressure or strain'responsive element which is designed to detect deformation in the rolling mill stand frame may comprise a gauge I0 including a primary coil Il which mayI be supplied with power from any suitable source. such` as a 110 volt, 60 cycle, A. C. source, and is in predetermined relation with respect to a pair of secondary coils I! and Il. A pivoted armature 2U is provided in cooperative relation with the primary coil Ii and its secondary coils l! and II and so positioned that when the frame is without load the armature is in predetermined position with respect to primary il and secondary' i2 on the one hand, and primary Ii and secondary Il on the other hand, so that normally pulses are derived from the secondary windings so that normally either` no signal or a predetermined signal. is obtained.' The armature 20 is so connected to the mill frame that it will be actuated about its pivot 2l when the frame'is subjected to strain, and when sc moved around its pivot the armature will decrease the gap between it and'one secondary coil and will increase the gap between it and the other secondary coil. Thus a change in E. M. F. will be generated by the coils I2 and il, the magnitude of which will Ybe a function of the strain upon the mill stand frame.

In order to measure the degree of the generated differential signal from the gauge member I0, and therefore in order toobtainan indication of the strain or pressure existing in the frame. the generated signal is passed through a rectifier 2l which will generate unidirectional pulsesA and then through a filter 26 which will give a continuous D. C., the output of which is then passed into a signal averaging network 30. This network comprises resistances Il, 32 and a condenser 33 which factors may be so chosen as to introduce a time constant of any predetermined length necessary to average out cyclical variations. Thus, for instance, those cyclical variations which are caused by eccentrlcity of the rolls and which therefore occur twice in each revolution of the roll, will vary the pressure generated in the mill stand frame and therefore the signal transmitted to the network twice during each revolution. By means of the averaging network Just described, however, these variations can be caused to average out over a period of 2, 4 or even more cycles of rotation of the rolls as desired. Thus the increase and decrease above and below the normal signal will be averaged out and only thatsignal due to the actual increment in cator by reason of having the output of the signal averaging network 30 place a potential upon the grid 40 of a tube A to vary the current passing through an electronic circuit in said tube. The said circuit C is normally energized from a suitable source of A. C. power by way of the primary winding of a transformer T. The circuit C is normally counter-balanced by a circuit C' in tube B and energized from the same A. C. source. The placing of a potential upon grid Il of tube A, however, disturbs the balance which exists between the circuits C and C so that an output signal of a given phase is impressed upon the power amplifier 5U. The output from the amplifier passes by way of a switch S to a motor $0 to drive the indicator arm BI. The motor is shown as provided with a iieldwinding 8l and shading pole windings 8B.

It will be understood rthat unless some balancing mechanism were employed to generate a signal suilicient to balance that generated in the gauge. In, no useful indication by indicator Il would be obtained because said indicator would continue to operate indefinitely. In order, therefore, thatthe degree of actuation of indicator 6| shall be proportional to the signal generated by gauge I0, a balancing mechanism is set into operation by the'motor l0 at the same time that the indicator 8i commences to operate. The said mechanism may comprise a variable voltage transformer of the non-contacting time, such as a selsyn motor -10 whose armature is connected to the armature of motorv 80, and will be actuated thereby to generate a voltage which afterbelng rectified by rectifier 1l and filtered by filter 12 will yield a D. C. potential which is then applied to the grid (0' of the tube B. When the potential on the grid I0 builds up to equality with the potential on grid 4U, the two circuits C and C' are again balanced and there will be no output to the amplifier, so that the operation of motor will cease., Thus the position of pointer Si at the time that motor 80 stops will be an indication of the magnitude of the signal generated by the gauge Il) and therefore an indication of the pressure existing in the mill stand frame.

'I'he rectiflers 2 5 and H are conventional voltage doubling devices, shown, for example, in the text book by Hund entitled Phenomena in High .Frequency Systems, published by McGraw-Hill Company, 1936, see Figure 125, page 183.

When the pressure falls of! and the potential on grid 40 of tube B exceeds the potential on Agricl 4D of tube A, the output of opposite phase enters the power amplifier and causes reversal of the operation of motor 60 and hence reversal of operation of the variable voltage transformer or Selsyn motor 10 to decrease the signal impressed upon the grid 40.

1 A phasing network is provided to bring the y indicated. For this purpose, when nomaterial is being rolled, switch S is operated to the dotted line position, preferably by some automatic means known in the art, sol as to render indicating motor Bil ineifective to be actuated by the output of the amplifier but will render a com-v pensating motor 60' effective. Thus, with switch S in the dotted line position, any signal that comes out of gauge I and through the amplier is due to the extraneous factors heretofore mentioned and the object is to neutralize these factors so that when the material starts moving through the mill stand frame there will be a new zero base line, in other words, no carry over of signal due to these extraneous factors. For this purpose, in the interval that no material is being rolled and switch S is in dotted line position, any signal coming through will actuate have been caused by said potentiometers are avoided. Furthermore, all variations in indication of short period and cyclical nature are averaged out by the means heretofore described, so that it ls possible to read the indicator at all times because saidindicato'r is moving relatively slowly, if at all,- in response only to the longer period, unidirectional changes in the pressures existing in the mill stand frame. a

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the prinvciple and operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other equivalent means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted Without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use. p

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In astrain gauge for rolling mills and the like, means whereby strain in the mill generates a voltage, a motor, means whereby said motor is controlled by said voltage, an indicator adapted to be actuated by said motor, and a balancing mechanism for generating a voltage for balancing said rst voltage, saidmechanism including a variable voltage transformer of the non-contactposition, all of the extraneous factors which tended to generate a signal from gauge l0 have been neutralized, and any signal that comes through the amplifier when switch S is in full line position will be due to the actual pressure existing between rolls of the mill due to material passing therethrough and will nt be due to extraneous factors which have previouslyaifected the mill stand frame. Y

Itwill be noted that in the case of both indication and compensation the balancing is efledted without the use of a contacter member such as the potentiometers heretofore employed, therefore all of the difficulties of operation'whicl'i motor. v

-2. In a strain gauge for rolling mills and the like, means whereby strain in the' mill generates a voltage', and means for compensating for strain in the mill due to 4extraneous causes other than material passing between the rolls, said last named means comprising a compensatingmotor, means whereby said motor is controlled by voltages generated by strains due to said extraneous causes, and a balancing mechanismfor generating a voltage for balancing voltages generated' by said extraneous causes, said mechanism including a variable voltage transformer of the non-contacting, Selsyn type adapted to be actuated by said ndtor.

NORMAN L. HAIGHT. 

